Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - October - 2007 Issue
Sporting Books from James Cummins Bookseller
George Washington as a foxhunter.
Item 143 is a personal African safari photo album. It was kept Max C. Fleischmann, heir to the Fleischmann Yeast fortune. He lived from 1877-1951, with this trip coming around 1907. Max Fleishmann obviously was well off as several of his photo albums are offered, including trips to Alaska and Mongolia. This album is headed, Two Months "On Safari" in British East Africa, primarily in territory now part of Kenya. The album starts with the party crossing the Suez Canal, going down the Ugandan Railway, and on to hunts along the Thika River. Pictures cover the caravan and its porters, gun-bearers, and campsites, lots of wild game, including rhinos, zebra, lions, giraffes and antelope, native warriors and villages, and the trek to Nairobi. The final three dramatic photographs capture a crocodile successfully taking down a rhino along the banks of the Thika. $7,000.
Item 207 consists of six prints from the Derrydale Press of Fathers of American Sport. Printed in 1931, they include people notable long ago in sports such as foxhunting, angling, horse racing, and yachting. However, one man, described as a "foxhunter," will be familiar to all Americans for a different reason. It is a portrait of a young Colonel George Washington. $4,500.
Moving up to the modern era, item 407 is the first issue, volume 1, number 1, of Sports Illustrated, dated August 16, 1954. This included a six-page baseball card fold-out from Topps, with portraits of stars of the day such as Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Vernon Law, Eddie Matthews, and Ted Kluszewski. $750.
Item 405 is a large assortment of skiing material, including the collection of Gary H. Schwartz, who wrote "Skiing Literature: a bibliographical catalogue." It consists of 1,600 items with books, journals, brochures, photographic albums and catalogues. The oldest book dates to 1558 (Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus by Olaus Magnus) as the collection traces skiing from its early days as a means of transportation. However, the main focus is on skiing as sport with works by virtually all of its creators and early commentators. Price on request.
You may visit James Cummins Bookseller at his website, www.jamescummingsbookseller.com, or contact the firm by phone at 212-688-6441.
